Drain opener



Jan. 7, 1930. A M B SMITH Y 1,743,065 y I DRAIN PENER v File; veci 29, 1927 abtomeq Patented Jan. 7, 1930 PATENT OFFICE i MICHAEL'B. SMITH, on sfr?. IioUIs, MIssoiinIy DRAIN ernia-nn Application mea neeember 29,' 19271 serial ea'ialas. i

My invention relates to improvements' in drain openers, and has among its objects the production of a device of such character, which will be neat and compact in construction, simple, economical, convenient, sturdy, and eflicient and satisfactory for use wherever found applicable. One of the objects of my invention is to provide an opener of the kind described, which shall be adapted for insertion through a drain pipe or other similar conduit having any number and direction of bends or angles therealong, said device being equally bendable in all directions, so that it will take all of such bends or angles, irrespective of their sharpness or direction.

Another of the objects of my invention is to provide a cleaner of the kind described, which shall be made of flat, iiexible wire, twisted loosely to form a spiral of the de` sired diameter suitable for insertion through the pipe, so that said cleaner may not only be equally flexible in all directions, but will act as an auger to cut away or through sediment or other matter that may have become imbedded in the interior of the pipe and which blocks passage therethrough.

Many other objects and advantages of the construction herein shown and described will be obvious to those skilled in the art to which this invention appertains, from the disclosures herein given.

To this end, my invention consists in the novel construction, arrangement and combination of parts herein shown and described, and more particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings, wherein like reference characters indicate like or corresponding parts throughout the views, Y

Figure 1 is a sectional view through a portion of the length of a drain pipe installation, showing the cleaning device in position therein;

Figure 2 is an enlarged view of the cleaner;

Figure 3 is a view similar to that shown in Figure 1, but having the additional cutting element; and

Figure 4 is an enlarged fragmentary view,

is quite customary to install suchielementsf Vor lengths, each made up of a piece of flat,

similar tov that shown in Figure 2, and with the auxiliaryI cutting element in place thereon; e

v'n the drawings, wherein I have illustrated the preferred embodiments of my invention, A indicates av drain pipe or any other conduit, having an obstruction therein at some point along the length thereof (not shown), and which it is `desired to clean out orifremov'e therefrom. Such a pipe will most i60 often be made up of a seriesV of pipe lengths or sections,`which may be joined together at their' abutting ends directly, or through elbows or other special shapes, the various pipe lengths and specialsection extending at Y innumerable angles and directions, and lyingein various planes relative to one another, and may even have various loops and traps at lintervals therealong, (not shown), as itk which have' been found necessary for the proper laying or installation of the drain.

When such an installation becomes stoppedk or blocked atv any point, it is a relatively tedious and expensive process to clear the same, as the pipes are either imbedded or hidden behind walls or the like, and on account of the great numberv and differing directions-of the bends. A piece of flexible wire pushed into the pipe will ta-ke"Il the first' bend, as the. wire will bend across its width, but if the second bend vextends into `a plane different from the irst section of pipe, the wire will not take the second bend.r because of the great resistance of the wirel against bending in any direction except across its width, and hence the wire must be pulled out, and the second bend reached by digging. l l For these reasons it is necessary to have a' cleaner that will take all bends and which will have enough rigidity so that'it will not twist or curl up and become useless. My improved cleaner comprrses one or more sections relatively stiff and flexible wire, of some suitable material such assteel or thelike, the wire being bent or twisted to'fo-rm an elongated spiral or helix, the pitch of the helix m being relatively steep so that a minimum' i. length ofwire will make a maximum length co Y tobvious that various immaterial modifications of section, and at the same time retain the special advantages of such construction, to Vbe hereinafter described. Y

Each section B may be removably joined to the adjacent sections by any suitable fastening means such as the screws 2 shown. At the forward end of the forward section inserted through the pipe, there is provided an anti-VU friction element, such as the ball 3, so that there will be no tendency for the forwardtip of the cleaner to becomey stuck or caught'in any of the various joints betweenV the pipe sections throu h which it must pass. Anloop 4 may be provided on the cleaner, to receivea i rag or the like, for wiping out the `interior of apipe as the cleaner is passed therethrough,

and if the loop is provided at the end ofthe cleaner it may be used for a grip to-twist or rotate the cleanery during the forward movement through the pipe.

' vThe spirally wound cleaner just described may be passed through yany drain or similar conduit, and as the same is made ofl relatively stiff material, itrwill not become all twisted up on itself, but will act as a flexible auger to cut its way through any solid matter that may have become accumulated in the pipe sufficiently to obstruct passage therethrough. Y Such a cleaner will accommodate itself to any and all of the bends or angles in and along the length of the pi e installation, and travel therethrough wit out thefnecessity of dig- V ging at any point, inasmuch as there is equal ment of parts herein shown and described, eX- cept as limited by the claims.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

l. A cleaner adapted to be inserted through a pipe having a plurality of bends therein` and therealong, and comprising a helicallyextending flat wire, the diameter of the helix being equal to the width of said flat wire, and

the pitch of said helix being relatively steep,Y

whereby said cleaner Amay be pushed through said pipe from one end thereof and have e ual Vtendencies to bend in all directions of lben ease of bending in all directions laterally of the longitudinal axis of the helix.

When it is desired to clean out ipeshaving a fairly large bore therethroug compared to the width Vof the cleaner element, it may be desirable to have a larger cutter for cutting through larger areas or cross-sectionsof accumulations, and therefore special cutting members 5 may be detachably secured to the main element B, at some point rearwardly of the Y ball end of the cleaner. These special cutters are made of a strip of metal much wider than that of which theelement is made, twisted to the same pitch so that it may be fitted between adjacent spirals thereof asshown, and may be detachably mounted upon the element B by meansof bolts 6 passed through apertures provided in the element B forth'at purpose. Y

In order to accommodate various sizes of 55pipe that may be encountered in practice,

there may bea serie'sof these special cutting members 5, of graduated sizes, so that thesingle main cutting element B may be used with either of the series of special elements 5.

Having thus described my invention, it is may be made in the same without departing from the spirit of my invention; hence I do not wish to be understood as limitingv myself to the exact construction, form and arrangeliso Y 

